Snoop effect? Local pot shop sees sales jump after rapper’s visit

Outside Royal's Cannabis store in North Spokane, rapper Snoop Dogg leaves his bus in a fur vest and hood, where he agreed to take photos with fans at the store Wednesday. (Jesse Tinsley/SR photo)

Rapper Snoop Dogg may have money on the mind of the owners of retail pot shop Royal's Cannabis after a visit in December.

The store posted a 10.6 percent sales increase last month compared to their sales in November, according to numbers reported by the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board. The famous rapper, reality show star and marijuana advocate whose birth name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus, Jr., appeared at the store Dec. 7 before a concert in the Tri-Cities. Royal's Cannabis reported $355,002 of sales, a figure that still lagged well behind receipts over the summer in a seasonal trend seen at most of Spokane County's legal pot shops.

Customers were not required to buy any product to get a photograph with the rapper, but many who emerged from the store were carrying products in discreet brown bags.

Royal's Cannabis reported the 10th highest sales of marijuana products of the 28 stores countywide open for business in December. Greenlight, on Trent Avenue, remained the biggest earner in the county, posting sales totals of $659,874 during the month, according to the Liquor and Cannabis Board. In total, Spokane County stores posted $7.4 million in sales, up from November but still below the high water mark so far for legal sales in the county, a $7.6 million figure in September.

An excise tax of 37 percent is assessed on marijuana sales at the point of purchase by the consumer. That means pot sold in Spokane County generated $2.6 million in tax revenue for state coffers last month. For the 2016 calendar year, Spokane County generated $25.9 million in excise taxes for the state, based on sales figures provided by the Liquor and Cannabis Board analyzed by The Spokesman-Review.

Kip Hill joined The Spokesman-Review in 2013. He currently is a reporter for the City Desk, covering the marijuana industry, local politics and breaking news. He previously hosted the newspaper's podcast.